Portfolio 2017

Following the European Migrant Crisis, which began in 2015, there are now millions of people displaced, trying to make it to Europe. These refugees, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, are seeking to escape ongoing war. My work is in response to this monumental movement of people, as I attempt to communicate an aspect of the near impossible journey they undertake.

Clothing is the smallest dominion we dwell in – a habitable space we carry with us. A refugee’s clothes are significant, as they are amongst the few possessions they can afford to take with them when they leave their homes. Images of clothes draped over makeshift refugee camp washing lines and clothes washed up on the shoreline – worn, salt-washed, and weathered – are sources I use to inform my work.

Wooden pallets are another recurring motif in my work. Pallets are associated with delivery, telling a story of movement and migration, and thus provide a metaphor for the journey a refugee takes across the sea.